Alexander Stroganov ORNITHOLOGY

Орнитология, 1998

Black Comedy
First Slovenian Staging
Translated by Miha Javornik

Directed by Zvone Šedlbauer

Premiere: September 2011

 

 

In this unusual and at times even scary comedy, conceived by the contemporary Russian playwright, we observe Savva Semyonovich the Amiable, a self-infatuated middle aged cock, who has been eagerly trying to seduce a quirky painter and a beautiful woman Tatyana. Pursuing this goal of his, he finds himself more and more involved into strange games, played with him by Tatyana and her mysterious brother Lyonia, who is also a passionate lover of birds. One night, when the three of them - properly loaded with booze, of course – were supposed to celebrate Lyonia's birthday and when Savva at times already thinks that she will eventually succumb to his charms, the things turn round into a completely unexpected direction and Savva finds out that he is trapped …   This rather ambiguous, hallucinatory play, capturing both the human and the bird world, is also a deliberately painful journey around the veiled layers of the human psyche.  It is also a unique exploration of suppressed thoughts and intentions, identification of inhibitions and prejudices and quest for meaning. This ghostly tense action, in which the reality and fantasy are mixed with light humour and meaningful suggestions, keeps intensifying until its surprising outcome.

 

Alexander Stroganov is a representative of the Russian post-Soviet drama, which experienced its boom at the turn of the century. He has, however, being psychiatrist and psychotherapist as well, developed a very unique style of writing. If Chekhov was the one, who widely opened the theatre doors to psychology, then Stroganov is among those, who are bringing theatre to psychology. He is upgrading his professional knowledge with the principles of psychodrama and drama therapy, additionally enriching it with the philosophical reflections of the Greek-Armenian philosopher Georgy Gurdhijeff. Thus, all this has been successfully combined in his plays. 

 

Alas, what a number of strange homes does our poor Mother Russia know!